[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I think it's an inevitable thing. We All Process Art Differently, etc etc. Everyone's bringing their own life experiences to art, so they're bound to draw out one or two things that connect with them on a personal level. It's natural.

If something is naturally predisposed to a certain act or state, doesn't mean it must be accepted conditionally or that they should never get objection. It's perfectly normal yeah for bringing own life experiences, but how you process and express that frustration is something else like what I said before about the difference between "I wasn’t a fan of <something> due to weird pacing, inconsistency...." and "<something> is terrible and people shouldn’t enjoy that, it contains everything people should hate....".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I'm not sure what this is referring to, sorry! Can you give me a little more of an explanation?

I mean about not being easy to support Toshiki Inoue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DECADE EPISODE 20 - “THE DARK RIDERS OF THE NEGATIVE WORLD”

I really like the attempt to not only spotlight Team Decade (well, Tsukasa and Natsumi; sorry, Onodera), as well as a kind of Be Careful What You Wish For storyline, but… an unfortunately dull episode!

There isn’t much in the way of homages or tributes this time out. The Dark Riders are just henchmen, without anything in the way of a twist or hook. They’re no different than a Narutaki summon. Otoya is back from Kiva, and he’s… I’m not sure what they’re saying with him. He seems (at this point) to be a representation of Evil Riders: the imposing and regal Dark Kiva armor he wore to his death, a trickster guide on the path to Hell. It’s just, no? No, that’s not what Otoya is about? There’re any number of other Evil Riders that could more directly fill that role (King or Saga, from Kiva alone), and Otoya’s use seems to be either for the surprise twist, or just the excitement factor of a beloved/”beloved” character’s return. (I mean, yeah, it is great to see Otoya. He immediately tries to charge three strangers for an unrequested performance!) It doesn’t feel like it’s saying anything with Otoya, though. He was never ever that guy? It feels weird to have him as the adversary for this story.

Have to say I agree for this part I guess, this is meant to be a tribute to the Dark Riders, but they seem to be only focusing on their fights as Riders. Though of course the Dark Riders aren't the same as the original cast of their respective series, as per Decade, but probably yeah they can bring back the previous worlds (don't really know about what the worlds work other than potential destruction, so I'd feel more free to suggest something that isn't limited to the world's mechanics, which I even do if talking about series like Den-O or such) for those Riders. I think other than Inoue writing this, Otoya's return seems to be similar like adult Wataru's return at the first episode, but Otoya's return here is more faithful to his original character.... except that there are no stakes of him using Dark Kiva, he can use it as if it's a normal transformation trinket!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But, it’s a whole story about feeling weird? There’s an immediate sense of impending doom, right from the opening scene. Tsukasa feels uneasy about the lackluster finale to his epic journey, and wonders what it was all even for if this was how it ended. Onodera is typically incurious, and willing to take any W he can find, but that lack of curiosity just amplifies how strange this victory even is. Team Decade finished their quest, and their reward is merely returning home.

Tsukasa's not satisfied, but yeah would need to learn about what are his goals to understand what would make him satisfied. So far from what I get he was trying to save the 9 world due to Tsukasa being someone who lives there. But from the beginning, it seems that what makes Tsukasa frustrated is his photography skills, which he enjoys as a hobby, but the only thing that he sucks at despite his hypercompetency at anything else. Though there are people who really can't convey what they want if asked for. You'd think that Tsukasa likes travelling here, but there're also what I get is a contradicting view from others (CMIIW), like how Tsukasa is a generalist, being a collection of 9 preceding Riders all with their own identities and dreams for the future and that's part of why Tsukasa feels so ostracized and rejected by the world. He can't have a dream for the future cause he doesn't even have a present or a past he can cling to, being a passing through Kamen Rider, like a ghost who passes through his own life, without understanding his place or what he's supposed to do.

So if I'd take both views them it means Tsukasa always feels weird, and the travelling part only gives a sliver of hope to him. but doesn't mean he's fully happy doing that either. Though some of this would be also caused by his own bad traits, no way Tsukasa would accept that his photography skills suck or have himself learn from others due to his enormous ego, of acknowledging that he does have something he doesn't excel at. Still that I'd think there are no real restriction of Tsukasa's movement (probably just about how he can't go to the previous Rider worlds due to what Narutaki claims... but that's all of us! Only being on 1 Earth), so he still can travel, for self-discovery, and 1 Earth alone is more than just Hikari Studio. Though I'd also like to see how a jerk copes of being bored, because being jerk and being bored can be a deadly combination. He did have a jerk behavior, but not related to him being bored I guess, like draining Onodera's wallet. And too bad for Onodera, he cannot find any W for now, for him being only revealed 1 year after Decade ended.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Which is sort of where Natsumi’s story is for this episode, and this is where I got the most bored. Tsukasa’s story is intriguing both from a dramatic angle (we’ve been watching Tsukasa grow over the last 19 episodes), and from a comedic angle (he’s so blase about all of his good luck, and it’s driving Onodera crazy). With Natsumi, we are getting a ton of new backstory out of basically nowhere. We have not gotten a sense of Natsumi’s life before Episode 1 of Decade (I mean, she might as well have the same amnesia or whatever as Tsukasa), and now we get a gigantic info dump about her high school friends, their We Don’t Feel Like We Fit In Club (thematic!), and the encroaching danger they pose in the present for Natsumi. It’s a ton of slightly charming flashbacks that get substantially less charming as the show keeps coming back to them. It just starts to drag, despite its promising attempt to flesh out Natsumi’s pre-Decade life and dig into the fear of growing up and moving on.

It may be.. boring, but yeah being boring doesn't mean they deserve hell or such, which is just an extreme reaction to those people especially if they didn't doing anything wrong. Bringing this up because there's a hint of Tsukasa having that view, that sad people like the Dropout Club is not worth helping or such for being sad guys, and there are some who'd be baffled if a character can cherish a 'boring and average' person, seemingly giving an indication that if you're boring you don't deserve to live... Otherwise, this is probably a subjective view that it's primarily you rejecting flashbacks, where Tsukasa's dilemma is handled with what's your cup of tea. Though what I think is not really known is about how the group in this episode is mostly just about gathering together, without any, and probably I didn't think that there was any clear reason for Natsumi to want to join the group... other than at least Natsumi (for a gorgeous schoolgirl) isn't hostile to boys, as the club is filled with them mostly.